Peptidoglycan is a component of the cell wall of bacteria, occupies 40 to 95% of the cell wall in case of Gram-positive bacteria and occupies 10 to 20% of the cell wall in case of Gram-negative bacteria. Peptidoglycan has a various biological activity by itself and causes, for example, shock disease or arthritis. It is also reported that a minimum biological activity unit of peptidoglycan is N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (muramyldipeptide, MDP) and by itself has a biological activity such as increasing a production of cytokines. Therefore, when the peptidoglycane invades into the blood by an infection of bacteria, whereby a severe condition of shock disease or arthritis as mentioned above may be caused. Furthermore, it is suggested that when peptidoglycan coexists with endotoxin, it may causes more severe condition due to a synergistic effect between the two.
In the field of an artificial dialysis of the blood, it is suggested that when peptidoglycan gets mixed in a dialysis solution, it invades into the blood of a patient during the dialysis, and then the same problem may be caused. Although a filter membrane is often used for removing peptidoglycan from the dialysis solution, small peptidoglycan having low morecular weight among all peptidoglycans can filter out though the filter membrane and can not be removed. Because the filter membrane screens based on a molecular weight. Additionally, when the peptidoglycan exists into the body fluid, the filter membrane can not be used substantially, because it removes other components such as protein. Against this background, it is desirable to develop dsorbents capable of efficiently removing peptidoglycan having low molecular weight and furthermore, capable of removing peptidoglycan present in body fluids.
The present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned background, and provides adsorbents capable of efficiently removing peptidoglycan present in a liquid, and a method for removing peptidoglycan present in the liquid and an adsorber for peptidoglycan using thereof.